My name is John Toren and I received this email from a "dear most beloved and trusted friend", sorry for the plagiarism but if the "shoe" fits, sorry for the pun, who is identified below. I have spent a goodly portion of my life with Jon on walks, runs, protests and the like so I know him quite well and as I read his message several things came to mind. No one and I mean no one has walking/running shoes that stink more than mine. I keep using them until they fall apart and even then I make sandals and the such from their remains. Waste not want not, eh? My wife and friends think I’m crazy. They call me the “mad cow”, mad as in crazy, for good reason. My wife attempts to throw these prized possessions away when my back is turned and I have had to retrieve them from the garbage cans on many occasions! When I read the email I was excited because I could visualize the look on some poor person’s face when they opened a box and the odor of hundreds of miles of running and walking came pouring out with a vengeance!
When I went to find, gather and box for shipment the absolutely worst smelling pair in my collection I discovered that these important relics were missing! I immediately confronted the woman of the house and she confessed she was indeed responsible for their demise! Unfortunately my vigilance has diminished over the last few years and the wife was able to have these beauties sent to a land fill unbeknownst to me. So I cannot join Jon in his shoe endeavor.
The other thing that came to me was that Jon seems to have a close tie with shoes. I remembered on run we were on where he only brought one shoe with him and he had to acquire another shoe so he could run! You say you don’t believe me! well click here and take a look!
Well even though I haven't a pair of shoes good enough to send, and it is probably a good thing because they might charge me with attempted murder, I will still support my friends effort to send yet another message to the bureaucrats in DC by publishing his email and encouraging all of you readers to follow his instructions on what and where to send your own message. Here goes:
Dear most beloved and trusted friends,
We have done everything we can think of to stop the Bush war machine. We have written letters, protested, held discussions and teach-ins, voted, lit candles, prayed. And in their arrogance they have stayed aloof from the overwhelming wishes of both the national and world populations. As the Bush administration finally wanes we are left with an empty frustrated feeling that no matter what we did they still rampaged and plundered, even ramping it up with the recent surge. We finally responded with the only effective means left to us with a resounding NO in the November election. That felt so good. But still I was amazed and elated when I saw the youtube footage of Bush getting shoed in Bagdad. What an effective and personal way to convey utter contempt for Bush's policies that have caused so much suffering. In a discussion with friends over dinner I realized how much I wanted to share my contempt using the same tradition. So I have boxed up and mailed a shoe of mine, one I have worn on many walks and protests of Bush's policies, to Bush at the White House.
I invite you all to do the same. What a message that would send if the White House were deluged with multitudes of shoes from citizens showing their solidarity with this most articulate act. Here's the address: 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC, 20500. Also, please share this idea with others you think might want to send a goodbye kiss to Bush.
The following link has a good perspective on shoe throwing as communication: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10031.shtml .
peace and love,
Jon
FootPrints for Peace
Our journey for peace begins today and everyday.
Each step is a prayer, each step is a meditation, each step will build a bridge.
Maha Ghosananda
Peacehq
FootPrints For 
